“The Babylon Project was a dream given form…”
I remember first hearing about “Babylon 5” from a co-worker who I temped with in the summer of 1992 while on break between college semesters. He communicated his excitement to me about this new sci-fi show that was coming that was going to best thing to run on TV since “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and so on. That summer I began to see blurbs about this new show called “Babylon 5” in a variety of magazines ranging from “Starlog: Spectacular,” which had run this big foldout story about the incredible for their time CGI effects being performed at Foundation Imaging for the show, to “Writer’s Digest,” which featured frequent articles on dramatic writing by Series Creator J. Michael Straczynski and Series Story Editor Lawrence G. DiTillo.” Then I attended a “Star Trek” convention and all everyone was talking about in between the guest appearances and so on was “Babylon 5.” One could purchase the pilot teleplay among all sorts of vendor items on the sales floor. By this time I was completely hooked, but had to wait until February of 1993 when the series pilot “The Gathering” finally aired on broadcast television. This was the original cut with the Stuart Copeland music that aside from the Japanese laserdisc import has never been made available on home video in America.
In 1998 the prequel TV movie “In The Beginning” was released with the new version of “The Gathering” that was reedited and with a new score by Composer Christopher Franke when the series moved to cable televisions’ TNT for the fifth and final season of the show. While I respect the changes made for what is now the only version of “The Gathering” officially available on home video in America as a domestic release, I do wish the original cut was made available on Blu-Ray too, but alas Warner Home Video has treated fans of the series to something better by releasing the entire series of “Babylon 5” to Blu-Ray Disc in a 21-disc set handsomely packaged in a giant plastic six page removable disc holder within a huge plastic keep case and housed within a cardboard slip that is styled similarly to a book, which is appropriate since “Babylon 5” is essentially an epic novel for television with a beginning, middle and an end. Each season is presented on three Blu-ray Discs with “The Gathering” receiving it’s own separate disc on the last page of the removable plastic disc holder found inside the large keep case.
On the flip side of the transparent keep case all of the episodes are listed though their disc locations are not. The titles for the five seasons: Signs and Portents, The Coming of Shadows, Point of No Return, No Surrender, No Retreat and The Wheel of Fire are all delineated though above the episode names so the epic quality of the great science fiction novel for television is evoked just as the original DVD sets honored it too.
The only extra included is a trailer for the already released, but sold separately “Babylon 5: The Road Home.” Unfortunately none of the audio commentaries and featurettes found on the original DVD sets are included, which is a shame since even if it would’ve delayed the release of the complete series on Blu-ray disc, it would have been worth it to the fans to include it all together especially with the premium price tag going for close to $100 before any retailer discounts. So you are definitely going to want to hold onto those DVD box sets because in addition to the extra value features, as of now it is the only way to get the episodes in the matted 16 x 9 aspect ratios that were, and are still available as long as they are in print on the original DVD releases. When the show first aired though widescreen televisions were always kept in mind, “Babylon 5” was ahead of its time because from 1994 through 1998 each episode was filmed open matte for what was then the more common l.33:1 television broadcast aspect ratio, but at the same time care was taken so that, although during the original broadcast, you would not get the extra information to the left and right of the screen, the DVDs show what the series should look like if it was in high definition. Unfortunately from my understanding the film print used to create these Blu-ray discs came from a vaulted copy of the original 4 x 3 aspect ratio episode television presentation. I still think that they could’ve at least included the commentaries and so in someways this is a bit of a disappointment and so even though you finally have what may be the only incarnation of “Babylon 5” to exist on physical media in high definition on Blu-ray, one now has to hold onto their DVDs as well.
Now for me being a super fan of “Babylon 5,” I have no problem holding onto the DVD sets, which I reviewed back in the day when they first came out. However, not everyone is a huge fan like me. So ultimately, even if you’re a casual fan that had the discs on DVD and would’ve gladly passed them on now that you could have the entire series on Blu-ray disc, if you want everything, you’ll have to hold onto those DVDs. That stated, the picture quality is definitely an improvement because it is a remastered copy from the original material, but the effects have not been digitally remastered, and since Babylon 5 for its time used cutting edge, computer generated effects that have obviously dated with the exponential increase in quality that has allowed such things as epic fantasy and science fiction as well as even Lovecraftian hybrid genre films and horror flicks to be realized in a way that was impossible in the mid 1990s outside of perhaps what was accomplished with films like “Terminator 2: Judgement Day” and “Jurassic Park.”
So it’s kind of a mixed bag though with respect because you definitely have better picture quality and resolution overall, it’s still an improvement, but it also reveals the dated quality of the effects that would probably be noticeable no matter what would be done unless money was spent to redo those effects much the way Paramount did when it really “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “The Original Series” of “Star Trek” on Blu-ray disc years ago.
What you get here outside of the improved picture quality is improved high resolution sound in DTS Master Audio in English along English subtitles for the death and hearing impaired encoded as an option. Strangely, the masters that were used in the set still have the original bumpers that would appear before or after a commercial much like you see on the “Mystery Science Theater, 3000” DVDs have and they realy should not have been present because while I love the TV show, I don’t need that much of a recreation of the television showviewing experience to include the commercial bumpers. Sometimes there appears to be an audio problem in the audio does not match the action slightly and that can be distracting. I’m not sure whether or not Warner Bros. is aware of this and whether or not they will eventually issue replacement discs to fix this problem, especially if you purchased the set at the premium price that they’re charging in retail stores.
Full disclosure, the set that I am reviewed I received from a publicity outlet contracted by Warner Bros. so I did not have to pay the premium price that the ordinary consumer would have, and if I did not receive the set to review, I would’ve ended up having to buy it just like everyone else and if I did, and I found some of these flaws evident then I would be very disappointed and perhaps even a little upset too.
Basically, I feel like this has been a bit rushed, and considering the renewal of interest in the series series, and the possibility of more new “Babylon 5” being created, I think the fans and consumers in general deserve better and so it’s up to you. I have to be honest in that I probably would still buy it no matter what, but I am a super fan as I will detail in photographs below of all the media I have related to the show and even then there are stuff that I have that I’ve never photographed.
Anyway, “Babylon 5, The Complete Series” is available now on Blu-ray Disc at retailers is on and off-line courtesy of Warner Brothers Home and Entertainment.
(C) Copyright 2023 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
My B5 Media Collection Also Includes, But Is Not Limited To The Items I Have Presented In The Pictures Below.
